Rudo y Cursi

"Rudo y Cursi," written and directed by Carlos Cuaron, follows the story of two brothers in Mexico who have dreams of being soccer stars. Tato "Cursi" (Gael Garcia Bernal) makes it big first, with some help from Batuta the narrator (Guillermo Francella). Riding his coat tails, his brother Beto "Rudo" (Diego Luna) breaks into soccer as a goal keeper for a rival team. Both brothers have problems off the soccer field, though. Tato can't get his love life in order and begins to feel the pressures of fame, while Beto's gambling problem becomes overwhelming. The two men's soccer and personal lives are on a collision course, with Tato needing to score a goal to revive his personal life and Beto on his road to a record number of shut out games.

To start with the good stuff: The characters in this movie - especially the two protagonists - are incredibly rich and detailed. As the movie rolls along, they feel real, as though you actually know them. The sibling rivalry is portrayed spot-on, including the barrages of insults and minor fisticuffs.

Unfortunately, some of the scenes did play out very well, come off as silly or almost absurdist in a movie which, at times, is hyper-realistic. The biggest problem, though, is that the ending is a bit rushed. There is a lot of build-up to a pretty thrilling climax, but the resolution comes out of nowhere. Not only does the story not turn out how we expected, the ending is almost non sequitur.

Of course, because I enjoyed the movie so much, I interpret the ending to make it stronger. Perhaps the fact that we don't see the ending coming is part of the point. We are so consumed by our goals and ourselves (or, in this case, the lives of the brothers) that we often miss the obvious developments going on around us. The brothers were so consumed by themselves and their records and accomplishments, that they were blind to everything else. The world, and all the other people in it, move forward regardless of how important we see ourselves and what we do. Yet, at the same time, we are left to live only with ourselves and our successes and failures in a world to which we are not very important.